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The purpose of this empirical research is to investigate the influence of interactive virtually present others (VPOs) on a firm response and customers’ reiterated complaints (follow-ups) during service failures. This research follows up on previous experimental studies that suggest VPOs affect the focal customers’ complaint intention.

More than 16,000 posts (of complaints and complainants’ follow-ups) on 13 airline Facebook pages were analyzed using partial least squares.

This empirical study found that customers’ complaints are attended to the extent the complaints are followed up with more comments as supported by VPOs suggesting a contagion effect. Besides, it appears, the squeaky wheel is the one that gets the grease. The interactive virtual presence of others does not have an effect on a firm response toward them, despite their support to complainants and calling the airline to act.

To date, previous experimental studies have only featured a single VPO in potential complainants’ responses; however, in this empirical study the authors take into consideration the interaction of several VPOs in the service failure. Also, the focus is on the influence of VPOs on customers' complaints rather than the other way around.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether posting on Instagram contributes to empowerment and through what mechanisms.

A sample of 372 women instagrammers from Kuwait participated in the survey. LISREL 8.2 was used to perform confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling, employing the maximum likelihood estimation method.

Instagram posts have direct and indirect effects on psychological empowerment. The indirect effect appears through two perceptual mechanisms: sense of self-efficacy and sense of community (SOC). The former provides women with a sense of mastery and control and the latter gives them the perception of belonging to a community that equips individual participants with a collective efficacy. Of the two mechanisms, the SOC plays a more significant role in creating psychological empowerment. Having a sense of virtual community, as opposed to participating in real ones, can act as catalyst in creating empowerment.

This study investigates the impact of a recent new technology, namely, Instagram, in regions where women are marginalized for generations. Instagram is important, because images, photo captions, short texts and hashtags are vital elements of communication in the present day. Furthermore, women are twice as likely to think highly of a brand that makes an empowering ad and are more likely to share, comment and like the ads.

Earlier research studies predicted that it would be small and medium‐sized businesses that were more likely to adopt and benefit from the use of the Internet because of their greater flexibility. Anecdotal evidence appears in the literature to support this claim; however, little systematic empirical research has been done among SMEs to test this speculation. A sample of 248 companies in Shanghai, China, was divided into small, medium and large groups. The statistical analysis indicates that there are significant differences between large and small companies. Large companies have benefited considerably more from the Internet than small companies not only in their increased sales (derived from the Internet) but also from cost savings. Although the whole sample confirms the main reason for establishing an Internet connection, to gain a competitive advantage, companies also think that the Internet does not work equally for all players.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to test the direct influence of servant leadership (SL) on an organization’s serving-driven capabilities (S-DC). Second, to test the indirect effect of SL on employee customer-service behaviors and identification with their branch. Third, to determine the direct effect of an organization’s S-DC on employee customer-service behaviors and identification with the branch. Thus, the authors provide evidence of how SL influence serving-driven interaction capabilities that are later deployed to execute customer-oriented behaviors.

Survey data were obtained from a sample of 36 bank branches of one bank in the Middle East. Employees evaluated their manager’s SL behaviors, the six S-DC and their identification with the organization. In turn, managers assessed their employees on customer-service behaviors. Partial least squares path analysis was used to model the relationships.

Results indicate servant leaders’ behaviors are example, motivator and determinant of an organization’s S-DC. Employees not only adopt the S-DC by imitation but also as a mean to reciprocate the leader: serve your customers like the leader serves you. Other results and implications for managers are presented.

The study is of a cross-sectional nature therefore a causal effect of SL on S-DC cannot be determined. Second, the study is limited to one bank although several branches were randomly sampled. Third, the evaluations of the S-DC have been done by the employees rather than customers.

The S-DC concept provides ample opportunities for managers to enhance their interactions with employees and customers to improve their performance by identifying which capabilities to develop. Specifically, interactions that promote ethical, empowering, developmental relationships and that encourage genuine two-way communication and responds to individual needs.

The study is original in testing the mediating effect of a S-DC. The focus on individual and organizational capabilities is relevant because they have been touted as among the most important factors to explain the differences of company performances and competitive advantages

The purposes of this paper are to test sources of brand equity for online companies and to examine the role of selective internet marketing activities on the brand equity sources.

These objectives were pursued by testing the nomological validity of the model using structural equation modelling.

The paper finds evidence for the proposed sources of brand equity for online companies based on brand awareness and recognition, brand association (trust) and loyalty. The investigated antecedents namely functionality, fulfilment and customer service on line, significantly influence the sources of brand equity.

The study is cross‐sectional, the dimensions to measure sources and antecedents of brand equity may not be comprehensive enough. The stimuli represent only a few online retailers.

Businesses are well advised to invest resources in creating brand recognition, customer loyalty and trust. Both of these can be achieved by developing internet marketing efforts around functionality, fulfilment of the promise and customer service support.

The nomological validity of the measurement and structural models for companies that operate on the internet, constitute a modest contribution. It is believed that a model, which integrates both, creates a more systemic view of brand equity. Apart from this one, there is no other study measuring the impact of internet marketing activities on brand equity sources.

Predicting one’s own decision‐making policies is evidently a useful skill. How good are consumers at it? In spite of its importance, the question has not been much studied directly, although hints can be found in several parts of the literature. This article describes an experiment that identifies how much knowledge consumers have about an important purchase: a mobile phone. A total of 94 consumers provided ratings of the importance of six attributes and preference for several choices of mobile phone plans that were advertised in the market. Consumers’ self‐knowledge was assessed by three methods: comparing the product attribute importance derived from the subject’s model with the attribute importance derived from a conjoint analysis model; comparison of predicted judgments generated by the subject’s model with their holistic judgments; and comparison of the actual purchase of a mobile phone with the prediction generated by the subject’s model. Results show that consumers have a relatively good predictive power of a product they have chosen. However, this knowledge is not perfect. The results have important implications for companies that collect information about preferences from consumers.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the percentage of generic inventory pharmacists have in stock, to comprehend why pharmacists in Jordan recommend and dispense generic products.

In total, 104 pharmacists were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire contained statements about perception of generic products, inclination to recommend generic products, importance of promotions, factors influencing a recommendation, stock of generics, and among others. Correlational and discriminant analyses were used to establish associations between variables to distinguish characteristics between groups.

More than half of the Jordanian pharmacists sampled carry between 20 and 39 per cent stock of generic drugs and 46 per cent carry more than 40 per cent stock. One‐third (33 per cent) substitutes branded products by generic ones and slightly more (36 per cent) recommend more generic than branded products as opposed to those who recommend more branded products (24 per cent). Male pharmacists (49 per cent) tend to recommend more generic products than do females (24.6 per cent) and those who recommend more branded products are more influenced by sales visits rather than manufacturer's name or bonuses.

The paper provides valuable information about the pharmaceutical industry in Jordan and the empirical study adds insights from pharmacists about generic medicine.

This paper seeks to test the factors that can influence adoption of mobile banking among current users of internet banking in Singapore and gender as a moderating variable.

A sample of more than 600 current users of electronic banking provided opinions about their intention to use mobile banking, perceptions of relative advantage of the mobile device, perception of risk, social norms, ease of use and usefulness of the device for banking purposes. The data were submitted to LISREL for structural equation modeling.

Usefulness, social norms and social risk, in this order, are the factors that influence the intention to adopt mobile banking services the most. Ease of use has a stronger influence on female respondents than male, whereas relative advantage has a stronger effect on perception of usefulness on male respondents. Social norms (or the importance of others in the decision), also influence adoption more strongly among female respondents than male.

The sample is biased towards people who are currently using internet for banking. However, mobile banking innovators may not come mainly from current users of internet banking.

Since gender plays a moderating role in the perception of ease of use, social norms and relative advantage, companies are advised to target their communication tactics according to gender. Social norm is more important to females than males as well as ease of use, whereas, relative advantage is more important for males.

The study purposefully uses gender as a moderator and risk as an independent variable not often considered in previous studies.

The purpose of this paper is to improve our understanding of status‐oriented Muslim consumers in Kuwait. More specifically, to study how personality traits such as materialism, susceptibility to social influence and self‐monitoring explain status consumption.

A sample of 433 consumers provided information on their status consumption orientation and the personality traits under study. Respondents expressed their opinion on the statements on a five‐point Likert scale. Factor analysis was used to explore the underlying dimensions, the reliability of the measures and the components. Regression analysis was used to predict the hypothesized relationships.

This paper hypothesized that the three personality traits, namely materialism, susceptibility to personal influence and self‐monitoring, influence status consumption among Muslim consumers in Kuwait. Based on the results, the data supported all but the effect of self‐monitoring, that is, the ability to readily alter one's behavior to fit the current situation. Also, younger consumers seem to engage in more status consumption than older ones. There is also a positive correlation between income and status consumption.

Status consumption‐oriented consumers are typically susceptible to informational and normative influence and are materialistic.

These findings can be used in market segmentation and advertising, for example, status consumers could be depicted using or consuming products in situations that imply prestige and approval from important referent groups.

The findings contribute to enlarge the psychological profile of Muslim consumers and their orientation towards consumption.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how consumers perceive the trustworthiness of halal certifications from various Muslim and non-Muslim countries, a topic highly disregarded despite the size of the market and the importance in penetrating the multibillion market.

A customized factorial design was employed to measure main effects of brand familiarity, country trustworthiness and country favourability and interaction effects.

Although Indonesia and Malaysia are Muslim countries, they are not perceived as trustworthy as others such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait for the consumer product under study. The perception of trustworthiness of halal certification of origin explains the highest proportion of the variance in the preference for a product, followed by the interaction of country favourability and brand name country of origin (COO).

Managers of international companies should be aware that not all halal country certifications are equally perceived as trustworthy therefore, they should seek alliances, with institutions in markets where they seek to penetrate.

The procedure for certification considers the whole value chain rather than just simple ritual of slaughtering. Managers have a big responsibility to produce their products according to the expected standards (and this goes beyond the simple slaughtering ritual) and make sure that all employees understands the importance of such adherence.

Muslim consumers’ preferences vary according to the COO of halal products, even within Muslim countries therefore, halal certification country-of-origin is a sensitive social concern.

This research is based on COO and brand familiarity frameworks, and it extends the knowledge in a context (halal products) not frequently explored.